James Eli Shiffer

James Eli Shiffer writes the Full Disclosure column and supervises the watchdog and data team. Shiffer joined the Star Tribune in 2005. A native of Scarsdale, N.Y., Shiffer previously worked at The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

You can be forgiven if you've never heard of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. It's America's most secretive court, and it convenes behind closed, guarded doors in a federal courthouse in Washington.

Last week, Congress sent the White House a bill to revamp the Freedom of Information Act for the 21st century. In a bitterly divided Washington, support for the bill united Republicans such as Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Rep. Darrell Issa of California with Democrats such as Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

With four of her children playing basketball, baseball and softball in the Chanhassen Athletic Association, Mary Valentine's life revolves around youth sports. These days, though, she doesn't dare go to a game or a practice.

In December, the Star Tribune requested the body camera video of the an encounter from the city of Columbia Heights. City Attorney James Hoeft said no. Last week, the Star Tribune made a formal request to the state to declare the video a public record.

Dale Fenrich keeps a shotgun slug on the desk of his insurance office in Litchfield, Minn. It's the one doctors took out of his upper leg after a hunting accident last fall, in which a friend shot him with a 12-gauge round intended for a deer.

For all the brouhaha over filth on the airwaves, the number of complaints to the FCC about obscenity and indecency has actually plummeted, from 1.4 million in the year of Janet Jackson in 2004 to a mere 1,003 last year, FCC data show.

A media policy spelled out in February prohibits any photography or videography, reversing a previous rule that allowed inmates, with the approval of the Department of Corrections (DOC), to grant on-camera interviews.